CHICAGO! I missed you. Good things happen in Chicago because the fans are amazing! I know WWE doesn't have a home base like TNA does with Orlando or ECW did with Philly, but if ever they chose to select a 'home field', it'd have to be Chicago. No other city gets as amped up for pro-wrestling. I know its not a PPV tonight, but please give these awesome fans (and by proxy, the fans at home) something good to cheer about. End 2011 on a good note.
WHAT I LIKED:
Opening Segment: Capitalizing on Punk's popularity in his hometown was a neat touch, but nothing that hasn't been done before. Laurinaitis' edict of giving Punk the night off, was obviously a red herring. No way that would go over well with the home crowd. The opposite isn't too appealing either. Punk wrestling 3 matches in one night seems good on paper, but I doubt the opponents will be anyone legitimate. At least not the first two. The third opponent will probably be more of a threat but since they added a fourth match against Laurinaitis himself, I'm not expecting anything more than a go-home happy match for the crowd.
Rhodes vs Booker: Much better outing than the match at TLC. I was hoping the crowd would start a 'You Still Got It' chant for Booker T. But then again, Booker hasn't been retired for that long. I'm actually glad they allowed Booker to defeat Cody Rhodes cleanly. It sends a message that Cody is good, but he's not ready for the main-event just yet. That's exactly how I feel about Cody. He will make it to the main-event eventually - he's too talented not to - but he still has a bit of work to do. I wonder if Cody using Goldust's move (as well as Booker T being Goldust's former tag team partner) are signs that Goldust will get his request to face Cody at Wrestlemania XXVIII. I wouldn't be too against that, especially if they integrate Dusty Rhodes into the storyline.
R-Truth: I forgot about him during the time he was gone. Not so much forgot about him, I just didn't give him much thought. I'm glad he's back and I'm even more glad that he kept his 'crazy' gimmick. It's gonna take some time for the audience to assess that he's a babyface again - mostly because he was so much fun as a heel. If WWE were smart, they'd make him a tweener. His gimmick just calls for a tweener role.
Gauntlet Match: I figured Jack Swagger would be a part of the Gauntlet match. I wasn't expecting Dolph Ziggler to be the second entrant, though. I figured WWE thought more of Dolph than to make him the second entrant. That's always an automatic loss. For some odd reason, two/three fall matches always seem to make it to the final fall. I don't think I've ever seen a Gauntlet match end before the final competitor wrestles. I've never seen a 2-out-of-3 falls match end on the second fall. I've never seen a 3 Stages of Hell match only get to the second stage of hell. It's almost like these are scripted... Well, look at that. It's a first time for everything. Consider my foot firmly in my mouth. I'll do it proudly too because this means WWE does think more of Ziggler than just being a toss-away in a gauntlet match. Should be an amazing match next week for the WWE Championship.
WHAT I HATED:
Mixed Tag: Are there any worse words in the WWE lexicon other than 'mixed tag'? It just means that the male wrestlers will be held back by the divas. Natalya isn't too bad on her own, but Eve as an opponent negates Natalya. In my opinion, Tyson Kidd vs Zack Ryder would be a pretty awesome match to see. If they had a good five minutes in the ring, they could probably hold a decent match. Ryder isn't the best in-ring competitor, but Kidd could make him look like a star. I never understood why WWE soured on Tyson Kidd. I think it had more to do with DH Smith and Kidd was just an innocent bystander. If nothing else, his appearance on RAW should keep him in the minds of the casual fans and hopefully WWE brass. He's too good a talent to be forgotten about.
Cena's Promo: Wasn't he supposed to be calling out Kane? He spent the first five minutes of his promo time sucking Chicago's dick and begging for them to like him.
The Miz: 2011 really was 'The Year of The Miz'. Well, the first half of it was anyway. In the second half, he kind of tailed off. He was reduced to doing Subway promos and jobbing to The Rock & Cena. I hope better things are in store in 2012 for The Miz.
Big Show vs Otunga: Really? There was no way this match was going to be exciting. Why would you add a stipulation to limit the already limited wrestling ability of a slow wrestler? I never thought I'd say this, but thank god Mark Henry showed up to make it interesting.
Alberto Del Rio: How awesome is Ricardo Rodriguez? He's hilarious without even trying. Unfortunately, he was the best part of this otherwise wasted segment. The crowd couldn't have cared less for Del Rio or his cries of pain. Bringing out the Bella Sluts didn't make it any better. I guess Del Rio's injury means he won't be able to attempt a back-to-back Royal Rumble win.
PUSH:
Kane/Cena: I haven't had a PUSH category in a while. I mostly put this here because, much like Cena, I don't know what to make of all of this. I don't know what to make of Kane. On one hand, I'm glad that they didn't make him come back as a monster heel because it would have ruined all the growth he's experienced over the past 10 or so years. I know a lot of fans wanted him to go back to how he was before with the mask, but moving forward by going back isn't moving forward at all. On the other hand, I didn't want him to attempt to be some type of intellectual. I know Kane is smart - well, Glen Jacobs is smart. He has a political blog online that I've read before. He's not just a dumb jock. But I don't think that's going to play well in WWE. Wrestling fans aren't the most educated of people in the world. I include myself in that statement. Sure, there are some educated wrestling fans, but the majority are not. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. When you have 15,000+ fans in one arena, the more uneducated, drunk, bloodthirsty of us are going to be the loudest voice. They're not going to want to sit back and listen to Kane deliver a soliloquy. As for the Kane/Cena storyline, I do like that its not just a 'beatdown' story. I like that Kane has a deeper motive for attacking Cena other than just being a bully heel. I'm interested in where WWE is going with this. Added with the Roddy Piper segment, it looks like a heel turn, but I'm not counting on that. I'm hoping for it, but I'm not counting on it.
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